1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming system in which an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile machine is coupled to an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer (PC) that sends image data to the image forming apparatus over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known conventional image forming system includes an information processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus connected to each other via a communication line such as a local network (LAN) or the Internet. The information processing apparatus generates image data or receives image data from an external device, and then outputs the image data. The image forming apparatus receives the image data from the information processing apparatus, and prints out the image data.
The image information processing apparatus incorporates a printer driver installed therein, so that the image forming apparatus prints out the image data received from the information processing apparatus. The printer driver converts the original image data (source image data) into a format supported by the image forming apparatus. Then, the image information processing apparatus transmits the converted image data to the image forming apparatus.
It is common that a plurality of image information processing apparatuses is connected to the communication line. If a plurality of image processing apparatuses is designed to access a single image forming apparatus, each of the image information processing apparatuses is required to have a printer installed therein.
However, installing a print driver into individual image information processing apparatuses is an intricate procedure. A number of image forming apparatuses are usually connected to the communication line. For example, it may be necessary to select an image forming apparatus from among a plurality of image forming apparatuses having different functions. Some of the image forming apparatuses may be replaced by new models of the same manufacturer or models available from different manufacturer.
Therefore, every time an image forming apparatus of the same model is added or an existing image forming apparatus is replaced by that of a new model or a different make, an appropriate printer driver has to be installed in the individual image information processing apparatuses. If a printer driver of a new model or a new version is to be installed in a large number of image information processing apparatuses, the man-hours for completing the installment is significant.
Furthermore, a long time is required for installing all the printer drivers for all types of image forming apparatuses, and a large memory capacity is required for storing the printer driver.
In order to solve this problem, if the data generated by an image information processing apparatus is in a file format that is not supported by an existing image forming apparatus, the data may be transmitted to another image information processing apparatus via the communication line for converting the data file format such that may be printed by one of the existing image forming apparatuses. However, if the data is converted into another data file format, the printing conditions may change accordingly. Therefore, mere conversion of the data file format can cause trouble in printing.